MRF Racing

MRF Racing is an Indian racing team that competes in car racing and rallies.

History

Open-wheel racing

MRF Challenge is an open-wheel formula racing series organized by MRF. The latest season consisted of races organized at Madras Motor Racing Track, Chennai, Bahrain International Circuit, Losail International Circuit, Doha and Buddh International Circuit, Noida. Freddie Hunt, son of 1976 Formula One champion James Hunt, Mathias Lauda, son of 1975, 1977 and 1984 Formula One champion Niki Lauda and Mick Schumacher, son of seven time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher competed in the series. ^[1] MRF has sponsored Indian racing drivers including Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok, Ashwin Sundar, N. Leelakrishnan and Raj Bharath.^{[ citation needed ]}

Rallying

MRF have also been a long-running sponsor of MRF rally team participating in Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Indian National Rally Championship. Associating with Czech car manufacturer Škoda, MRF Skoda is the three time reigning champion in Asia-Pacific Rally Championship with Chris Atkinson winning in 2012, Gaurav Gill in 2013 and Jan Kopecký in 2014. ^[2] MRF also participates in Raid De Himalaya, the world's highest rally. ^[3] The Indian National Rally Championship Overall winners (2022) Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai also drive in the MRF colours. ^[4]

European Rally Championship

Since 2020, Team MRF Tyres has contested the European Rally Championship. In 2020, they fielded two cars – a BRC-run Hyundai i20 R5 for Hyundai’s factory driver Craig Breen and a TGS-run Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo for Emil Lindholm. Breen eventually finished the championship in 7th and Lindholm in 15th, with MRF finishing 4th in the Teams championship.

In 2021 MRF entered a VW Polo GTI R5 for Simone Campedelli instead of WRC-2 bound Lindholm, while also continuing to field the BRC-run Hyundai. Craig Breen continued to drive, but left the team after three events. Different Hyundai-associated drivers would compete in the car for the remainder of the year, including Jari Huttunen, Dani Sordo and Nil Solans. MRF eventually finished the season in 5th.

In 2022, MRF expanded to enter a trio of Škodas for Campedelli, Norbert Herczig and 2021 runner-up Efrén Llarena. Javier Pardo Siota and Mārtiņš Sesks joined later in the season. Llarena scored his first ERC victory on Rallye Azores, with Sesks taking a dominant victory by winning every stage at his home Rally Liepāja. Llarena eventually won the championship, with Pardo in 2nd, Campedelli in 5th, Herczig in 9th and Sesks in 12th. MRF also won the Teams championship, leading Toksport WRT by 90 points.

In 2023, MRF entered two teams – Team MRF Tyres and MRF Tyres Dealer Team. They retained Llarena, Campedelli and Sesks, who were joined by Mads Østberg in a TRT-run Citroën C3 Rally2 and Andrea Mabellini in a Škoda. Pontus Tidemand, Jon Armstrong and Dennis Radström also appeared in a GN Motorsport-run Ford Fiesta Rally2, while Pardo drove a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 at Rally Islas Canarias. The team took two victories – in Poland Liepāja, courtesy of Mārtiņš Sesks, who eventually finished the season as runner-up. Østberg classified 3rd, with Llarena in 4th. The teams finished in 1st and 3rd, respectively.

In 2024, MRF downgraded to three cars for Llarena, Mabellini and Sesks, who switched the Škoda for a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The season proved to be challenging, with both Llarena and Sesks leaving mid-season. Amaury Molle and Simone Tempestini were later signed as their replacements. Mabellini took 2nd in Ceredigion and later won 2024 Rally Silesia, which allowed him to finish 4th in the overall standings. MRF eventually finished the championship in 2nd.

Tempestini is set to remain with MRF in 2025 behind the wheel of a Keane Motorsport-run Škoda, with James Williams and former Citroën factory driver Stéphane Lefebvre joining on selected events, both driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

Others

MRF promotes a national motocross championship, a form of all-terrain two wheeler racing held on enclosed off-road circuits annually across several cities. MRF sponsors major karting championships in India. MRF is the first Indian tyre company to develop FIA approved karting tyres. ^[5]

Results

ERC results

Year	Entrant	Car	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Drivers	Points	Teams	Points
2020	Team MRF Tyres	Hyundai i20 R5	Craig Breen	ITA 4	LAT 4	POR 16	HUN Ret	ESP 11				7th	49	4th	107
		Škoda Fabia R5 evo	Emil Lindholm	ITA 9	LAT 5	POR Ret	HUN 19	ESP				15th	27
2021	Team MRF Tyres	Hyundai i20 R5	Craig Breen	POL 42	LAT 2	ITA 9	CZE	POR1	POR2	HUN	ESP	10th	43	5th	153
		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	Simone Campedelli	POL Ret	LAT	ITA 17	CZE	POR1				11th	41
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo							POR2 24	HUN 5	ESP 4
		Hyundai i20 R5	Jari Huttunen	POL	LAT	ITA	CZE Ret	POR1	POR2	HUN	ESP	NC	0
		Hyundai i20 R5	Dani Sordo	POL	LAT	ITA	CZE	POR1 2	POR2 12	HUN	ESP	12th	40
		Hyundai i20 N Rally2	Nil Solans	POL	LAT	ITA	CZE	POR1	POR2	HUN Ret		7th	4 (50) [a]
		Hyundai i20 R5									ESP 12
2022	Team MRF Tyres	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Efrén Llarena	POR1 10	POR2 1	ESP1 2	POL 4	LAT 2	ITA 4	CZE Ret	ESP2 2	1st	166	1st	326
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Norbert Herczig	POR1 Ret	POR2 8	ESP1 9	POL 10	LAT	ITA 10	CZE 5	ESP2	9th	55
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Simone Campedelli	POR1 Ret	POR2 7	ESP1 5	POL 35	LAT	ITA 2	CZE 6	ESP2	5th	71
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Javier Pardo	POR1	POR2	ESP1	POL	LAT 8	ITA 7	CZE 10	ESP2 3	2nd	55 (96) [a]
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Mārtiņš Sesks	POR1	POR2	ESP1	POL	LAT 1	ITA 31	CZE	ESP2	12th	35 (42) [a]
2023	Team MRF Tyres	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Efrén Llarena	POR 7	ESP 3	POL 10			ITA 4			4th	88	1st	271
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo					LAT 9	SWE Ret
		Škoda Fabia R5								CZE 8	HUN 10
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Simone Campedelli	POR 23	ESP Ret	POL 15	LAT 10	SWE Ret	ITA 11	CZE	HUN	33rd	14
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Mārtiņš Sesks	POR 12	ESP 8	POL 1	LAT 1	SWE 3	ITA Ret	CZE 11	HUN 3	2nd	134
	MRF Tyres Dealer Team	Citroën C3 Rally2	Mads Østberg	POR 2	ESP 16	POL 4	LAT 3	SWE 8	ITA	CZE Ret	HUN	3rd	80 (115) [a]	3rd	150
		Ford Fiesta Rally2	Pontus Tidemand	POR 13	ESP	POL 13	LAT	SWE	ITA	CZE	HUN	38th	6
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Andrea Mabellini	POR Ret	ESP 13	POL Ret	LAT 13	SWE 9	ITA 10	CZE	HUN	17th	32
		Hyundai i20 N Rally2	Javier Pardo	POR	ESP Ret	POL	LAT	SWE	ITA	CZE	HUN	NC	0
		Ford Fiesta Rally2	Jon Armstrong	POR	ESP	POL	LAT	SWE 11	ITA	CZE	HUN	39th	5
		Renault Clio Rally3	Paolo Andreucci	POR	ESP	POL	LAT	SWE	ITA 20	CZE	HUN	NC	0
2024	Team MRF Tyres	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Efrén Llarena	HUN Ret	ESP 12	SWE 14	EST	ITA	CZE	GBR	POL	10th	6 (45) [a]	2nd	167
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Mārtiņš Sesks	HUN Ret	ESP 23	SWE 6	EST 14	ITA	CZE	GBR	POL	28th	17
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Andrea Mabellini	HUN 7	ESP 17	SWE 9	EST 8	ITA 9	CZE 16	GBR 2	POL 1	4th	101
		Citroën C3 Rally2	Paolo Andreucci	HUN	ESP	SWE	EST	ITA Ret	CZE	GBR	POL	NC	0
		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	Amaury Molle	HUN	ESP	SWE	EST	ITA	CZE Ret	GBR	POL 22	NC	0
		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	Simone Tempestini	HUN	ESP	SWE	EST	ITA	CZE	GBR Ret		6th	0 (59) [a]
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2									POL Ret
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Meirion Evans	HUN	ESP	SWE	EST	ITA	CZE	GBR	POL Ret	NC	0
2025	Team MRF Tyres	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Simone Tempestini	ESP Ret	HUN Ret	SWE 9	POL 6	ITA Ret	CZE	GBR	CRO	12th*	27*	1st*	163*
		Hyundai i20 N Rally2	Stéphane Lefebvre	ESP 9	HUN	SWE	POL	ITA				24th	9 (14)* [a]
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2							CZE WD	GBR	CRO
		Hyundai i20 N Rally2	James Williams	ESP Ret	HUN	SWE	POL	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	NC	0
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Roope Korhonen	ESP	HUN 1	SWE 2	POL Ret	ITA Ret	CZE	GBR	CRO	4th*	60*
		Citroën C3 Rally2	Miklós Csomós	ESP	HUN 38	SWE	POL	ITA				NC	0
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2							CZE	GBR	CRO
		Citroën C3 Rally2	Max McRae	ESP	HUN Ret	SWE	POL	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	33rd*	0 (5)* [a]
		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	Frank Tore Larsen	ESP	HUN	SWE 5	POL	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	16th*	19*
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Mārtiņš Sesks	ESP	HUN	SWE	POL 1	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	8th*	35*
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Jan Solans	ESP	HUN	SWE	POL	ITA 17	CZE	GBR	CRO	NC	0
		Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Benjamin Korhola	ESP	HUN	SWE	POL	ITA 54	CZE	GBR	CRO	NC	0
		Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	Chris Ingram	ESP	HUN	SWE	POL	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	–	–
	MRF Tyres Dealer Team	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	Stéphane Lefebvre	ESP	HUN	SWE 11	POL Ret	ITA	CZE	GBR	CRO	24th	5 (14)* [a]	6th*	37*
		Citroën C3 Rally2	Max McRae	ESP	HUN	SWE 24	POL 11	ITA Ret	CZE WD	GBR	CRO	33rd*	5*

• Season still in progress

Notes

1. Non-bracketed number refers to the number accumulated with team, with number in brackets referring to the total accumulated for the season.

References

1. Simmons, Marcus (15 July 2014). "The sons of James Hunt and Niki Lauda to race in MRF series". Autosport . Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 15 August 2014.
2. "Kopecky wins WRC for MRF". rally.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
3. "Raid de Himalaya 2009 from October 5, 2009". North India Times. 2 September 2009. Archived from the original on 1 January 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
4. Track, Auto (7 December 2022). "Karna Kadur, Nikhil Pai clinch maiden Karnataka-1000 Rally title". Auto Track. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
5. "MRF Sports".